Louise Duffield used to be chained to a busy newsdesk until her twin girls gave her a new lease of life, freelancing from home - still busy but in control of the working day

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Working in your spare room is great when the railways are in chaos, roads are blocked by fallen trees and it’s a nightmare to get to work.

In fact, I could sit in my pyjamas if I didn’t have to take the children to school before settling down to write!

I regard myself as being a very fortunate 'working parent'.

I'm freelance and so I can be flexible about my working hours, the time I have off and when I take my holidays. I'm not the family's main breadwinner either so that takes the pressure off...

It looks ideal on paper and at the moment things are going well, although the life of a freelance is anything but predictable.

I drop the children off in the morning, walk home, make a cup of tea and sit down in front of the computer. I write some emails, speak to a few people on the phone, arrange interviews and put together features. Some days I go out and about doing face-to-face interviews. Then I leave the house at 3.10pm to pick up the girls - twins aged five.

When it works well it really is - for us - the best way for me to earn a wage and be there for the children.

Now that the girls are at school, life is easier because I have more regular working hours.

But before that it was very fragmented and rather hectic as I would grab a couple of hours when the girls were at playgroup or an afternoon while they were at nursery. Of course that’s not always convenient for whoever you need to speak to and returned calls are often made when you’re in the middle of watching Tweenies or cooking fishfingers for tea.

In that situation you just have to stand and watch the fishfingers burn as you take down that all-important quote.

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